A Poll Tax on Bachelors

Waipawa Mail, Volume X, Issue 1020, 9 December 1886, Page 2

A Poll Tax on Bachelors

A toll lax on bachelors has often been advocated, and rightly too, for it is a thoroughly established principle in political economy that when individuals enjoy exceptional freedom aud advantages and happiness they should bo made to pay for the luxury. But the real difficulty lies in fixing the exact amount that should bo levied.

A meeting is said to hnvo taken place some where on this question, when it was thus eloquently supported ; —Dow often do you seo* young men visiting our large ‘cities and knocking down cheques in a very questionable manner and coming back poorer men ? Now, clap a poll tax on them of say £3 or £4 per annum, and tho chances are that most of them would rather marry' than pay it.” We must admit that men will alwavs choose the least of two evils, nnd if a tax were imposed on bachelors it is only natural to expect that they would strive to shirk it, like the rest of human beings. Further than this wo may say' that if that tax were made sufficiently crushing, tho poor things might even marry. But to bo sure of such ail alternative tho tax would have to bo a very heavy one.